O'Malley, W. L., Quinn, T. J., Kertzer, R. & Vroman, N. B. (1977). Effects of exercise modality on excess postexercise oxygen consumption (EPOC) in female runners. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 29(5), Supplement abstract 1109.

This study determined whether female runners (N = 7) elicited the same 3-hour EPOC after a typical run on a treadmill when compared to a non-familiar, air-braked cycle ergometer workout of equivalent relative work level.

Ss rested for one hour before being measured for baseline values. That was followed by 45 minutes of exercise at 75% of the randomly selected, mode-specific VO2max. Ss then rested quietly for three hours. Ss performed under both conditions.

It was found that physiological familiarity with an exercise modality, in this case running on a treadmill, yielded a lower EPOC than that of the non-familiar cycling task.

Implication. Testing for EPOC using activities other than those of the specific-trained sport will yield spurious values.

Higher post-exercise metabolic activity results from performing unfamiliar activities. When recovering from exercise or competitions, active metabolisms speed repair and restoration mechanisms. To produce the highest level of post-exercise metabolism it probably would be helpful to perform unfamiliar untrained activities at a low to moderate intensity.

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